{"id":423365,"date":"2026-01-27T14:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423365"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:15:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:15:30","slug":"nyt-big-oil-narrative-challenged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423365","title":{"rendered":"NYT \u201cBig Oil\u201d Narrative Challenged"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWill Rebecca F. Eliott dare investigate the other side of her favored arguments and dare again, alter her perspective? Will her readers and the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0allow her to do so? The times are a changing\u2026.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An article in the New York Times<\/em> last month on Harold Hamm was in the long tradition of Big Oil, Big Politics, Big Corruption. \u201cThe Oilman Who Pushed Trump to Go All In on Fossil Fuels<\/a>\u201d (December 12, 2025) was authored by Eric Lipton and Rebecca F. Eliott<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eliott\u2019s bio is titled \u201cI cover energy for The New York Times\u201d and reads in part:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cMany of my stories explore how energy shapes \u2014 and is shaped by \u2014 politics and economic policy\u2026. I joined The Times in 2024 from The Wall Street Journal [and] \u2026 The Houston Chronicle\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The biased, superficial article prompted me to write this letter to Eliott. Dated December 14, 2025, I have not heard back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Hello Rebecca:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just read with interest your article on Harold Hamm, which is in the tradition of \u2018big oil politics.\u2019  I have covered this narrative in many books and articles since the 1970s (see MasterResource<\/a> and type your search term).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should consider doing another piece on the intellectual movement behind Chris Wright (et al.), which comes from Alex Epstein<\/a>, who as the \u201cfirst philosopher of energy\u201d has sharpened the arguments for the free-market, human-betterment narrative. Also, Robert Bryce<\/a>. I think these two (and me) will not fit the narrative of Big Oil Politics\u2026. Ditto for the Institute for Energy Research<\/a> (IER), which I founded out of my house back in 1989 (a \u2018think bucket<\/a>\u2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your research, you should read about my opposition<\/a> to Enron\u2019s \u2018green\u2019 energy policies (I worked there for 16 years). What is crucial is understanding the principled view of free-market capitalism versus political capitalism (same website<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The classical-liberal intellectual movement has long been in the wilderness with climate issues, which replaced Peak Oil, Peak Gas, and (yes), a flirtation with global cooling (question<\/a> \u2018ExxonKnew\u2019 in this regard).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope this is of interest to understand the major changes now underway with U.S. and global energy policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best wishes, \u2013 Rob Bradley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.S. The major global energy issue, in my view, should be privatization of the subsoil<\/a> (mineral rights), not climate change. Royalties for the masses, not the (corrupt, crony) State.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The saying is that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Will Rebecca Eliott dare investigate the other side of her favored arguments and dare again, alter her perspective? Will her readers and the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0allow her to do so? The times are a changing\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article in the New York Times last month on Harold Hamm was in the long tradition of Big Oil, Big Politics, Big Corruption. \u201cThe Oilman Who Pushed Trump to Go All In on Fossil Fuels\u201d (December 12, 2025) was authored by Eric Lipton and Rebecca F. Eliott.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":423370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the debate on energy politics as Robert Bradley Jr. challenges the narratives presented in a recent New York Times article on Harold Hamm.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Investigation of Big Oil Politics: A Call for Balance","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMVwvQVFNTjFmUFBldWxNYjB2aVV3elZFZDNUc1RoY01PeDRFMjlQM1BTVU1GU2did1RiZ3MwWnlWaDl1am94cmxLOFVKaXJtMmZHSXRGUGE1S2lDamtxYzRGZXJwandsZ1VNYUpadmtPVmlHWXE2WW9TdkFwT1FTVXlTSlA4Tk9hRlEtMTAyNHg2MDIuanBlZyIsInR4dCI6Ik5ZVCBcdTIwMWNCaWcgT2lsXHUyMDFkIE5hcnJhdGl2ZSBDaGFsbGVuZ2VkIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE1NTgxMjQ0OX0.GU6330iJpZhJtf0IxnaFGa4vbzPFWv0FtG1YMBP5FWoMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691820285,691840956,691840957,691840955,691820439,691820866,691822583],"class_list":{"0":"post-423365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-big-oil","9":"tag-big-oil-politics","10":"tag-enrons-green-energy-policies","11":"tag-eric-lipton-and-rebecca-f-eliott","12":"tag-new-york-times","13":"tag-peak-gas","14":"tag-peak-oil","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMN1fPPeulMb0viUwzVEd3TsThcMOx4E29P3PSUMFSgbwTbgs0ZyVh9ujoxrlK8UJirm2fGItFPa5KiCjkqc4FerpjwlgUMaJZvkOViGYq6YoSvApOQSUySJP8NOaFQ.jpeg?fit=1220%2C717&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1M8t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":287473,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=287473","url_meta":{"origin":423365,"position":0},"title":"COP28 Comedy: Oil Consultants Accused of Being Big Oil Shills","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The world's top management consultancy McKinsey & Company is using its position as a key advisor to the UN's COP28 climate talks to push the interests of its big oil and gas clients, undermining efforts to end the use of the fossil fuels driving global warming, according to multiple sources\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"big oil and gas\"","block_context":{"text":"big oil and gas","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=big-oil-and-gas"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-299.png?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-299.png?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-299.png?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-299.png?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-299.png?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":414796,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=414796","url_meta":{"origin":423365,"position":1},"title":"A Few Markers on the Road to the Demise of the Climate Apocalypse","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"For a long time, it has been obvious to me, and to any thinking person, that the climate apocalypse scare would sooner or later collapse of its own absurdity. 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